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1 – 10 of over 12000Samanthi Kumari Weerabahu, Premaratne Samaranayake, S.W. Sarath Dasanayaka and Chaminda Nalaka Wickramasinghe
This paper explores the challenges of food security from source to consumption of agri-food value chain by considering urban–rural linkages in city region food systems (CRFSs) and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the challenges of food security from source to consumption of agri-food value chain by considering urban–rural linkages in city region food systems (CRFSs) and proposes a strategic framework for CRFS identifying strategies to promote urban–rural linkages among multiple stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study approach to a fruit and vegetable value chain from rural source to consumption in the Colombo City region identifies the challenges of food security. A snowballing sampling method was used to gather information from retailers, wholesalers, commission agent, farmers and consumers. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews, observations and secondary data sources. The data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Findings
Challenges in food security in the value chain related to five areas: input and production, infrastructure, public institutional support and policy, finance, and food market. Colombo city is heavily dependent on food sourced from other cities due to limited land and lack of locally situated commercially oriented farmers.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited to a selected number of fruits and vegetables in the Colombo city region and leaves out other food items.
Originality/value
This study contributes to informing policy and decision-making processes to promote a more balanced rural to city food value chain in Colombo City that could benefit all stakeholders from rural small-scale producers to urban consumers.
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Luigi Mastronardi, Luca Romagnoli, Giampiero Mazzocchi, Vincenzo Giaccio and Davide Marino
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships in alternative food networks (AFNs) between the purchase of food, the motivations of consumers and their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships in alternative food networks (AFNs) between the purchase of food, the motivations of consumers and their socio-demographic profiles.
Design/methodology/approach
The study includes a total sample of 1,200 individual questionnaires, administered to the customers of 34 AFNs in different urban areas. The methodology employed is multilevel regression analysis, which is useful for dealing with data with a nested structure.
Findings
The results allowed us to depict some findings: the most important motivations in purchasing decisions are the perceived quality as well as comfort with the location of the markets, shopping experience, variety of offered products and delivery methods. Other interesting results relate to the presence of children in the families and the role of women in the choice of quality food.
Practical implications
The observations could represent a basis for thinking about how to improve consumers’ behaviour and, at the same time, try to remove the obstacles to a greater recognition of the importance of AFNs by consumers.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the debate on food policies. Indeed, the integration of the results into food policies could help to intercept the consumers’ trends and promote a transition of the food system towards a path of sustainability, in which the AFNs are the organisational expression of a change that concerns a wide geography and a large number of social and economic actors.
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Siti Fatimahwati Pehin Dato Musa and Wei Lee Chin
This study aims to evaluate the contributions of agritourism towards the local food system (LFS) by studying three small-scale agritourism farms in Brunei. More specifically, it…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the contributions of agritourism towards the local food system (LFS) by studying three small-scale agritourism farms in Brunei. More specifically, it looks at the role of farm agribusinesses and heritagisation efforts of indigenous farmers.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to collect data. This method is widely seen as more suitable to gain the unexplored perspectives of the agriculture community at the three agritourism farms.
Findings
The results suggest that the agritourism farms contribute to mild local food activism through their small-scale production of sustainable food products. Another significant finding affirms that these farms also contribute to preserving ethno-culinary heritage through heritagisation of indigenous food and their ancestral agriculture knowledge. The farms’ involvement in agribusiness and efforts in food heritagisation contributes towards a more sustainable LFS and stimulates the rural area as a reinvigorated space for agritourism transactions.
Originality/value
There are lack of research on the contributions of agritourism towards the LFS, especially in Brunei. This study will provide evidence of the overlooked significance of agribusiness and heritagisation efforts conducted by the local farms.
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Uncontrolled and unsustainable urban development has a significant impact on the overall quality of the environment. Contemporary spatial management does not take into account the…
Abstract
Purpose
Uncontrolled and unsustainable urban development has a significant impact on the overall quality of the environment. Contemporary spatial management does not take into account the non-economic conditions of ecosystem functions and their biophysical limits, which results in a deterioration of the environment. Furthermore, urban development continues all over the world, which is associated with a projected population increase, particularly in cities. Therefore, there is need to include analyses in the field of environmental carrying capacity (ECC) for more sustainable spatial management and development. The ECC concept is a tool for sustainable development of human settlements. It could be defined as threshold level of anthropopressure, which the environment is able to balance and withstand without serious degradation and irreversible changes. The use of ECC assessment will help ensure the needs of the city’s residents, which are conditioned by the environment. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This review study presents an overview of the ECC concept and its potential for use in spatial management at local level, especially for cities. The content analysis introduces definitions of spatial management and others main actions of spatial economy as well as the definitions of ECC. The overview of existing ECC models is a part of presented review.
Findings
The paper shows the ECC approach from global to local level on Poland as an example country.
Originality/value
The literature review identified that the idea of ECC could be a useful concept and tool for sustainable spatial development and management. This concept allows for verification of the resources and environmental state of given territory unit. Therefore, the assessment of ECC allows to verify if development of given area, for instance country, region or even city, is conducted within the framework of sustainable principles. Despite this, the assessment of ECC is not taken into account when future spatial management is defined. Thus, this circumstance could be a reason for this research area development.
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Natapol Thongplew, Nadtaya Duangput and Sasimaporn Khodkham
This study aims to explore ways to minimize plate waste at university canteens by studying plate waste and consumers at three main canteens of a university, Thailand.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore ways to minimize plate waste at university canteens by studying plate waste and consumers at three main canteens of a university, Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach
Using university canteens in Thailand as a case, plate waste was characterized and quantified and consumers’ insights concerning food consumption practices were examined through focus group discussion.
Findings
The results revealed that each consumer wasted edible food around 19 grams/meal. The generation of plate waste is affected by the food provision system, including canteen setting, food purchasing procedure and food quality. In addition, the presence of stray dogs in the canteens inhibited consumers from finishing up their food. Thus, improving the food provision system is crucial to engage consumers in achieving zero plate waste.
Originality/value
This research sheds some light on ways to engage consumers in sustainable consumption and contributes to the knowledge on plate waste and sustainable consumption in university settings. Improving food quality and canteen settings are of importance to better engage consumers. In addition, this research revealed that concepts of system of provision and citizen-consumers are practical to analyze sustainable transformations for green university initiatives.
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Anandika Sharma, Tarunpreet Bhatia, Rohit Kumar Singh and Anupam Sharma
The food supply chain has faced many challenges due to its complex and complicated nature. Blockchain technology is one of the mechanisms used to improve agri-food supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
The food supply chain has faced many challenges due to its complex and complicated nature. Blockchain technology is one of the mechanisms used to improve agri-food supply chain processes by evolving organization capabilities. A study is being conducted to scrutinize the adoption of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain through the lens of the operational capability approach. It further makes an attempt to identify the capabilities of blockchain to improve supply chain processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews was used to gather information from experts and professionals in the food supply chain and blockchain technology. The authors have adopted a systematic approach of coding using open, axial and selective methods to depict and identify the themes that represent the blockchain-enabled agri-food supply chain. The data were collected from 32 interviews of selected participants.
Findings
The result shows five critical areas where blockchain can come up to enhance the agri-food supply chain performance by providing traceability, transparency, information security, transactions, and trust and quality. Further, the study reveals that blockchain will provide safety, lower the cost of transactions and can create trust among users to communicate within the whole supply chain without the intervention of a third party. This study demonstrated that the capabilities need to be considered when introducing technology into the practice.
Research limitations/implications
The study implies thought-provoking implications for bridging the theory-practice gap by examining the empirical data to demonstrate how the operational capabilities of blockchain technology further strengthen the agri-food supply chain. Additionally, this study provides some suggestions for utilizing the results and proposes a framework to understand more about blockchain use cases in the agri-food supply chain as well as extend the application of blockchain using an operational capability approach for future academic researchers in this area.
Practical implications
This study presented some more important managerial implications which reveal that the majority of organisations were in the initial stages of adoption process of blockchain technology. Further, the positive influence of managers and IT experts can help the information technology companies (IT) and stakeholders for developing and promoting blockchain solutions in the agri-food supply chain. The important implication of blockchain enabled agri-food supply chain is to maintain information security and incresae supply chain performance.
Originality/value
The study shows the operational capabilities of agri-food supply chain using blockchain technology. Blockchain can contribute in enhancing the agri-food supply chain to increase traceability and transparency and helps to reduce the risk of disruptions.
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Amarnath Tripathi, Nisha Bharti, Sucheta Sardar and Sushant Malik
This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 induced lockdown on selected vegetables to confirm if the vegetable supply chain was disrupted during that period. It attempts to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 induced lockdown on selected vegetables to confirm if the vegetable supply chain was disrupted during that period. It attempts to see if direct marketing via FPOs/FPCs helped Indian farmers to cope with adverse situations aroused in vegetable marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study opted for mixed methods research. First, a granular data set comprising daily observation on wholesale price and the market arrival of vegetables were analysed. Descriptive statistics and Kalmogorov-Smirnov test were used to understand the severity of disruptions in the vegetable supply chain in India during the lockdown. Then, qualitative information from different stakeholders engaged in the vegetable marketing was collected through a phone survey and assessed using content analysis to comprehend how FPOs have helped farmer’s during this crisis.
Findings
This paper confirms disruptions in the vegetable supply chain. Quantities of chosen vegetables arriving in the mandis were significantly lower than in the previous year for all phases of lockdown. Consequently, prices were much higher than in 2019–2020 for both the lockdown and subsequent phases unlock. Results further suggest that those farmers who are already in networks of FPOs/FPCs are able to get benefited. It was also observed that direct marketing through institutional supports is being more explored in the regions where FPOs/FPCs already exist.
Research limitations/implications
Since it is an exploratory study involving a small sample, the research results may lack generalisability.
Originality/value
This study provides scope for direct marketing through FPOs/FPCs in improving the food supply chain.
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Sumanta Das, Akhilesh Barve, Naresh Chandra Sahu and Devendra K. Yadav
This paper aims to identify, analyze and evaluate the major enablers for the sustainable public distribution system (PDS) supply chain in India in lessening food insecurity by…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify, analyze and evaluate the major enablers for the sustainable public distribution system (PDS) supply chain in India in lessening food insecurity by distributing essentials food grains at a subsidized rate.
Design/methodology/approach
The major enablers for the sustainable PDS supply chain were explored by conducting the literature survey and discussion with academic and warehouse experts. Then, the fuzzy-DEMATEL (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory) technique was applied to develop a causal model that analyses the interaction among the identified enablers.
Findings
This study recognizes fifteen enablers through literature survey and experts' opinions. The present work concludes that “proper identification of the PDS beneficiaries” and “willingness and commitment of the top management and policymaker” are the two major enablers for the sustainable PDS supply chain.
Research limitations/implications
This work would be helpful for profoundly understanding the major enablers, and how they are affecting the entire PDS supply chain. The study would be beneficial for the general people and the entire society straightforwardly by providing suggestions for food security.
Originality/value
Identifying and analyzing the major enablers for the sustainable PDS supply chain helps to visualize the problem more effectively and efficiently. Besides, the causal model explains a comprehensive perspective on the identified enablers.
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Sheu-Usman Oladipo Akanbi, Ridwan Mukaila and Abdourasaque Adebisi
After a long observation of the high rate of rice importation and low productivity in Côte d’Ivoire, the certified rice seed was introduced and encouraged to be used by the local…
Abstract
Purpose
After a long observation of the high rate of rice importation and low productivity in Côte d’Ivoire, the certified rice seed was introduced and encouraged to be used by the local farmers. This study evaluates the profitability of rice production and the impact of certified seed usage on the yield and income of farmers in Côte d’Ivoire.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 265 rice farmers. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the challenges faced in using certified seeds. Profitability analysis was used to examine the profitability of rice production. To eliminate bias due to the counterfactuals, the endogenous switching regression was employed to investigate the impact of the certified seeds on income and yield.
Findings
The difficulties faced by the rice farmers in the procurement of certified seeds were the unavailability of seeds, the high cost of seeds and poor credit access. Furthermore, rice farmers using certified seeds get a higher net income (USD 263.74/ha) than those using farmers' seeds (USD 212.31/ha). The average treatment on the treated was 1.61 for the yield and 574.75 for the income. The average treatment on the untreated was 1.20 for the yield and 422.59 for the income. These indicate a higher yield and income among adopters of certified rice seed.
Research limitations/implications
Certified rice seed usage is profitable and enhances the output and income of rice farmers. The study advocates the creation of a stronger relationship between the farmers and the extension agents to encourage the use of certified seeds and increase the profit of the farmers.
Originality/value
There is scant information on the profitability of certified rice seed usage and how it affect yield and income. Therefore, this study serves as empirical evidence for policymakers to develop strategies that are required to enhance certified seed usage, boost rice productivity and achieve food security.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay of institutional quality and market potential factors on the agglomeration of foreign fast-food franchises in major cities in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay of institutional quality and market potential factors on the agglomeration of foreign fast-food franchises in major cities in Central America.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors approached the research question through a regression analysis of the main fast-food chains operating in the 41 largest cities in Central America. The exploratory analysis in this paper attempted to discover the statistical relationship between institutional quality and market potential factors on the agglomeration of fast-food chains in specific cities. The paper also examined the spatial distribution of fast-food units in selected cities to try to discover specific patterns on the selection of specific locations within each city.
Findings
The findings of this paper suggest that population size and institutional quality in terms of regulatory efficiency were the two most significant predictors of fast-food chains agglomerations in selected Central American cities. The authors also found a negative interaction between market potential and institutional quality on agglomeration of fast-food restaurants, whereby a relatively weak institutional environment might deter investors, even if initially a market offers moderate potential. Finally, they found specific geographic patterns for the chosen locations of fast-food places that signal to a preference for urban locations with easy access to main thoroughfares, high commercial traffic and more affluence.
Research limitations/implications
The small sample size was a major constraint. Moreover, population size as a measure of market potential was available for all cities, but other city-level indicators were only available for a small number of cities. The preliminary results aligned with the predictions in this paper, yet the generalizability of the findings of this paper is limited by the sampling and measurement issues noted above. Finally, the paper did not include all fast-food chains in the cities examined, and inclusion of more foreign and domestic chains should be considered in future studies.
Practical implications
Local governments should consider the factors that impact franchise chains’ decisions to enter a market and the specific locations in which they choose to locate their units. Improving the quality of local institutions could be instrumental in attracting investment.
Originality/value
Very few studies have focused on Central America as a recipient of investment by fast-food chains. The region is less than attractive in terms of both market potential and risk. Yet fast-food franchises have continued to grow over the past two decades, making the examination of their investment decisions worth studying. The inclusion of institutional quality at the city level is an additional contribution of this paper. This paper furthers our understanding of the factors that drive investment decisions of global franchisors in regions with low to medium market potential and medium to high levels of institutional risk.
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